Chapter 159: Something Of Mine

Madam Xu found it hard to believe that OmniTech’s COO would willingly give them a backdoor to Sentinel.Well, willingly was too generous of a word, after all she was still bound to a bed and had a gun pointed to her head.

But even then, all this felt too easy, everything about it reeked of deceit.

That is, until she saw the results.

Lillian had actually logged into Sentinel’s back end, and gave them access and not just any access, it was full admin privileges.

The laptop in her hand had texts she still had a hard time believing was there.

{Full backend access.

Root permissions unlocked.

Admin authorization: L. Hayes}

Xu turned to Lillian who still sat on the bed, but her restraints were a bit loosened and in her hand was a takeout container which she ate from.

She didn’t seem too comfortable per say, but after going almost two days without food, she was more focused on the food before her than the situation she was currently in.

Which was understandable, but for some reason, it irritated madam Xu.

"You are taking this situation quite lightly," she said.

"You try starving for as long as I did," Lillian said as she wrapped the noodles around her chopsticks and let it disappear into her mouth, "besides, according to our agreement, I’ve earned back my freedom, haven’t I?"

There was silence for a while as she looked at her captor, before madam Xu suddenly burst into laughter.

"Freedom?" she repeated, wiping an imaginary tear from the corner of her eye. "Oh, Lillian Hayes... you really are naïve."

Lillian’s hand froze halfway to her mouth, the chopsticks had a single noodle dangling on it.

"You think this is some kind of business transaction? You give me a full access to sentinel and I give you safe passage home?"

"No, no, no. You misunderstand." Madam Xu continued.

Lillian forced a slow exhale and set her food aside. "We made a deal."

"We made nothing," Xu corrected. "You begged for your life and I accepted your offering."

She gestured at the laptop in Zhao Ming’s hands.

"And now that I have what I want, I’ll use it destroy your boss and it’ll all be because of your naivety."

A frown appeared on Lillian’s face at her words, she then asked, "then what happens to me?"

Madam Xu seemed to think about it for a while before she slowly walked towards Lillian, held her chin up and said, "for now, you’ll stay here and watch your boss’s downfall happen."

"And after that," She took a small pause before adding, a cold grin on her face, "let’s just say I have friends in places that’ll pay bank to spend a night with such delicate looking flower."

Disgust.

That was all Lillian felt as she moved away from Madam Xu’s touch, again. Thıs content belongs to novelhall.com

She never expected to be freed after handing over what she promised, but did they really think she was that stupid?

Well, if they did, they had something completely different coming.

She had done what she could and soon enough, she knew Ethan would come for her, and Madam Xu would regret ever taking one of his....

But for now, she had to keep up the act.

"W-why?" Lillian stuttered out, a bit of fear surfacing on her face, an expression that put a smile to madam Xu’s face.

"Why?" She repeated, "OmniTech Corp—Sentinel, to be precise—tore my world apart. Your little system brought to light every single backdoor we created, right after I had made a promise to a couple of important people."

"The Elderwoods were exposed because of it and arrested, while I watched my reputation go up in smoke. So much so that even one of my puppies gained the courage to bare its fangs."

"So now, I’ll make sure you and your boss regret the day you ever got the idea of starting a company," with that, madam Xu stepped back a bit, letting her words sink in before she turned towards the entrance of the basement, "so for now, enjoy the show and thank you for the gift."

She walked towards the door, opened it and walked out, leaving Lillian alone inside the basement.

Lillian’s face still held the expression of fear, but inside, there was anything but.

Yes she was a bit nervous, but she didn’t doubt for a single moment that Ethan would come save her.

***

Madam Xu walked up some stairs before coming to another door which led to a corridor that was connected to the living room, one in which another hated face was...

Jian Long calmly sat on the couch, Zhao Ming sitting opposite him, no words were exchanged between the two.

This place was previously his, but he had willingly sold it to Madam Xu as a sign of ’good will’ when he was prepared to expand his company to the US, hence the reason some tools in the basement were left behind by his technicians.

But now that they weren’t in good terms, madam Xu didn’t like the fact that he was here, but then again, she had no other option.

If her plan was to go smoothly, the Reaper was supposed to believe that there was no bad blood between them and to do that, she had to wear a perfect mask.

She composed herself and slowly walked towards the living room.

"I assume our guest was cooperative?"Jian asked the moment she stepped into the living room, his tone was completely bored

Madam Xu’s smile did not falter. "Eventually. Loyalty is only so useful if you’re sure you can keep your life."

"Hm," Jian murmured, watching her closely. "And you got OmniTech Corp’s owner’s identity?"

"No," Madam Xu responded as she took a seat on an empty couch, "even she doesn’t seem to know who he is."

"Is that so?" He asked, "then I assume she’s dead?"

"Not yet," She answered, "she proved to be useful after all."

With her words, her passed the laptop she had brought along to him, Sentinel’s back end still open.

"A back end to sentinel?" Jian commented, genuinely surprised.

He had expected a lot of things, but this wasn’t one. He hadn’t expected it to be this easy.

But then again, this made things easier.

The product in his plans was in the palm of his hands, all he needed to do now was keep it permanently for himself.

But before he could say or do anything, his phone let out a ’ding’ the same time Madam Xu’s did.

Taking it out with a small frown, Jian long read a simple message on the screen:

{Hello Jian, I believe you have something of mine. I’ll give you twenty to return her.}

At the end of the text was a small smiley face and although there was no contact, Jian immediately realized who sent it.

Looking up from his phone, he realized that Madam Xu had the same reaction as he did, informing that she also received the same message.

"......"

They were both silent for a couple of minutes before letting out a chuckle at the same time.

Did OmniTech’s owner really think they’ll fall for such threats? Did he actually believe they’ll hand over Lillian just because he said so?

Yes, it was impressive that he actually found out who was responsible for the kidnapping Lillian but it was already too late now that they were already in China.

With a smile on his face, he typed a simple response, "no."

He waited for a moment but when no reply was received so he just put the phone down.

The room held its smug silence for another minute before his phone finally ring.

For a moment, he suspected it was from the same person, but frowned when he recognized the number.

Jian Long silently listened to the caller for a few moments, his jaw tightening with each passing second.

When the line finally went dead, Jian lowered the phone and looked straight at Zhao.

"Turn on the TV."

Zhao hesitated, he wasn’t Jian’s subordinate, after all, but Madam Xu noticed the grim shift in Jian’s expression and gave a small nod.

That was all the permission Zhao needed. He quickly reached for the remote and switched the television on.

"Breaking news — police just made three arrests in Los Angeles County," was the first thing they heard from the anchor the moment the TV turned on. "The suspects are being charged with illegal weapons trafficking, kidnapping, and several additional crimes."

"According to authorities, this raid was made possible through an anonymous tip," the anchor continued, pressing a hand to her earpiece. "We’ll now go live to our correspondent on the scene for further details."

The news faded in the background as Jian Long absentmindedly looked at the screen before him, the three arrested were three of his men that helped run the facade known as Longfield Logistics.

Ding.

His phone let out again and he unlocked it to see another message:

{Was that enough to change your mind?}